For What it's Worth
by MsCinammon
Summary: Marta McGonagall is obsessed with the idea of beating her twin sister's academic achievements. But now she has been pulled from her routine of coffee and late night revision. She might even get expelled and it is solely Sirius Black's fault. - Sirius Black/OC
1. Charms

**Welcome to my story! Needless to say, I own nothing but my OCs and the plot. I wrote the first chapter some two and a half years ago and recently picked up from there. I will try to update as regularly as possible. That said, I hope you enjoy and it'll be awesome if you decide to leave me some feedback :)**

* * *

Marta had expected the pre-exam panic. She had even thought it would come right when the exam schedule had been posted. Now she kind of wished it had – she could have handled it by now. But no, it just had to take over her the night before her OWLs began, didn't it. The exam period started with the Charms OWL, so naturally Marta was revising the spells that were most likely to crop up on the exam, as well as doing some additional revision for Arithmancy, although it was one of the last OWLs in the schedule.

In spite of having practiced every Charms spell studied this year a hundred times over the last month and dedicated at least two hours each day to solving Arithmantic problems, Marta still didn't feel quite prepared. Oh, alright, she knew that there was no way she was getting anything less than Exceeding Expectations on any of her OWLs, but that was hardly the point. The point, ever since she had enrolled in Hogwarts, was to beat her sister's academic results, whatever the cost. She just had to pass all of her exams with Outstanding, otherwise she'd feel like five years' worth of endless hours spent studying would have been futile.

3 AM, Marta was still rereading her Arithmancy notes, parchment after parchment of complicated formulae and solutions, while finishing her fourth cup of coffee. No, she was pretty sure she didn't need sleep. The more she revised, the more secure she felt. She was sitting in a cozy armchair near the crackling fire in the now completely deserted Common Room, determinedly going over the material for what felt like the thousandth time. Now she thought about it, she'd better settle into another armchair, one that wasn't so close to the fire – the crackling of the flames made her drowsy. Just as she was about to move, the portrait hole opened to admit a tall boy with immaculate raven black hair and stormy gray eyes. She recognized him as the sixth-year Sirius Black, troublemaker extraordinaire.

"Hey there," Sirius smirked when he noticed her. "Last minute revision?'

"It's not last minute, I've been revising for two months," frowned Marta. "I just don't feel like sleeping."

Sirius raised his eyebrows, clearly thinking "yeah right, and I'm the Tooth Fairy," but decided against saying it out loud.

"What about you?" asked Marta indignantly.

Sirius beamed at her innocently. "What about me?"

"How come you get away with wondering through the grounds in the middle of the night?"

Sirius shrugged and headed towards the boys' dormitories.

"Fine, don't tell me," muttered Marta, switching her gaze to the parchments sprawled all over the table. "Not like I care anyway…"

* * *

"Marta!" Emmeline gasped as she entered the Common Room and saw her friend curled up in the big armchair next to the fire, clutching an already extremely wrinkled parchment in her left hand.

The Common Room was still relatively empty, since it was 7.30 AM. Only a few people were awake, half of them nervous fifth-years quietly practicing Charms spells, the apprehension clear on their faces. Nobody had bothered to wake up the pale girl that seemed to have fallen asleep on one of the armchairs.

"Marta," Em shook her gently. "God, why didn't you listen to me, you should have gone to bed early… All that nine-Outstanding-OWLs crap… Just not worth it, take my word for it… Marta, wake up!"

Marta stirred and opened her eyes. She took in Emmeline's sky blue stare, the morning light, and the muffled voices, and realization dawned on her.

"Bloody hell," she groaned. So the coffee had not been as effective as she'd hoped.

Marta stood up and only then did she realize that there was something in her left hand. She let go of the crumpled parchment with an annoyed sigh and started assembling her stuff from the table. Emmeline hastily chimed in and in a minute they have gathered and arranged neatly all her Arithmancy parchments and the objects on which she had practiced the spells. Then Em helped Marta get them up to their dormitory and waited while her friend changed in fresh robes.

"No, you're absolutely _not_ skipping breakfast," Em insisted as she urged Marta towards the Great Hall. "Seriously, exhausting and starving yourself is not the way to achieve an Outstanding OWL. And relax, for Merlin's sake! You'll be fine."

As they navigated through the Great Hall and walked past the Ravenclaw table, Marta saw her sister engulfed in a conversation with Jasmine Lovegood. Moira and Jas noticed her too and waved. Marta waved back feebly and let Emmeline drag her to the Gryffindor table.

"Now, have a toast and some fruit," ordered Em, as she disapprovingly observed Marta stare at her empty plate with a blank gaze.

Marta shrugged, then grabbed an apple, took a small bite and began to chew absent-mindedly. The conversation died out for a while and Marta could just distantly hear other people's chattering around the table. However, she was too apprehensive and self-absorbed that she couldn't make out any distinctive words.

"Honestly, Marta, you'll be _fine_!" Emmeline tried to reason with her friend, who looked like they were facing the dawning of the Judgment Days.

"I _am_ fine," snapped Marta and left the half-eaten apple in her plate. "And I'm going for a walk."

Before Emmeline could stop her or offer to come along, she had pushed her chair and headed straight towards the exit of the Great Hall.

It was a lovely summer day; Marta could not help noticing, even though she wasn't quite fond of summer herself. It was and had always been her sister's season. She appreciated it though, and would have thoroughly enjoyed today's weather, had it not been for the beginning of the OWLs.

The exam week was, in some sense, like Judgment Days to her. Evaluation and Assessment Days more like. They were not just some crappy end of the year exams, which you either passed or you didn't – and most people did without working too hard anyway. Oh, Marta's family would take great pride on the twins' splendid results, and they would both be warmly congratulated. But the one with the best result was to be singled out, it's what their mother did, and every other relative of theirs simply followed suit. Since until now both Marta and Moira had passed their exams flawlessly, it was Moira who got all the first-hand attention. It was always her, because she was the "properly sorted" one. Marta was believed to be the first person in her family for decades, not to be sorted in Ravenclaw. It had come as a great shock to their mother, who claimed to be a direct successor of Rowena Ravenclaw and was fiercely proud of her family's belonging to the Ravenclaw house. "It's in our blood to be the best in everything we do," she would constantly remind them, "and we certainly are the smartest pure-blood family there is." To Mrs. McGonagall, it was all about excellence and anything below this fixed standard was most unwelcome. Since Marta didn't have the belonging to back her up, she went for the excellence part for all it was worth. She did excel in everything, but the problem was, Moira did too. Her academic record was just as flawless and admirable. The fact that she was also a terrific Quidditch player, while Marta claimed to be afraid of heights, didn't help the situation. It was the possibility of getting nine Outstanding OWLs that Marta saw as the big chance to finally shine through. Maybe Moira was not that exceptional, maybe she would get a couple of Exceeding Expectations on her OWLs after all. And, if not, at least they'd be academically equal yet again. Marta could not bear the thought that her results could possibly be worse than her sister's. She would not be able to look at her mother's eyes without reading in them disappointment, or even worse, that dismissive look, which said, "Indeed you couldn't keep up with our standards, but thankfully we have the other one to cover up for your underachievement." Yes, Marta was in Gryffindor and she was even proud of it and perfectly content with the Sorting Hat's choice (although she would rather defenestrate herself than mention this to her mother), and yes, Quidditch was not for her – she had stepped out of it and would willingly let Moira take all the glory, but she was never an underachiever and did not have the slightest intention of letting herself become one. This was the one main trait of her family she truly possessed and she was bound to make her mother acknowledge this. "For all it's worth," Marta thought to herself vaguely and after a half an hour long walk around the castle grounds, headed for the Great Hall were the first OWL was to begin shortly.

Marta found Em right before the beginning of the examination and hugged her tight.

"Look, I'm sorry I stormed out like that, I didn't mean to offend you or anything. I am just really, really nervous. Can you please tell me I'll be fine just one more time, so I feel more confident? Because, you know, you say it like you are really convinced I'll manage it and all?"

"Honestly, Marta, of course you'll manage it!" Emmeline couldn't help but laugh at Marta's utterly distressed expression. "If you don't, who on Earth would? Just… relax please!"

Later, when Marta solemnly faced the Charms theory paper, after a brief panic attack, she recalled the confidence in Emmeline's voice while assuring her that she would be fine, took a deep breath, gripped the quill firmly and steadily began to work her way through the questions.


	2. History of Magic

Focus, Marta thought to herself, I need to focus. The dates of the goblin revolts wouldn't learn themselves. She was holding in her hand a cup of coffee, but the coffee was long since drunk and she hadn't even noticed. She was clutching the cup with shaking hands and had been staring at the same parchment for over an hour now. Her eyes were persistently trying to close.

In her drowsy state, Marta was startled so much by the sudden opening of the portrait hole that she dropped her cup. The cup broke in two on the floor.

"R-reparo." Marta's voice was hoarse and her hand was shaking so much that nothing happened.

"Reparo," said Sirius Black and with one swift wave of his wand the cup was restored to its original state. "Say, you had Charms today, coffee girl? I hope you did better than that on the practical exam."

"I did worse," Marta groaned.

Sirius sprawled himself in the armchair next to Marta, took out from his pocket a flask of pumpkin juice – well, or most probably butterbeer, - and took a long sip.

"Come on then, after revising so much? As long as you've done most of the spells you were asked to do, you'll at least scrape an Acceptable.'

"I did all of them."

"Great then. So don't worry if you've left out some theory questioned, they are not –"

"I didn't leave out anything," Marta frowned. "Go sleep, Black."

"Nah, ladies first," he smirked. Then, before Marta could react, he grabbed the parchments with her History of Magic notes from the table and started browsing through them. "Let's see now. First Goblin rights activists. Real sweet."

"Give them back, Black," Marta muttered feebly and stretched out her hand, expecting him to just shrug and hand her the parchments straight away. Which only shows how little interaction she had had with Sirius Black back then.

A large grin broke out on his face as he leaped from the armchair, took a few steps towards the fireplace and leaned on the mantel.

"The Chipping Clodbury riot occurred in the town of Chipping Clodbury during a meeting between Ministry of Magic officials and…" Sirius read out loud with a thin voice meant to sound like Mr Binns'. He paused dramatically at "and" and looked at Martha expectantly.

"The Brotherhood of Goblins," she said exasperatedly. "Now give me my notes back."

"The leader of the Brotherhood of Golbins was –"

"Brodgrid the Boss-Eyed, now will you please hand me back my notes!"

"The goblins," continued Black, apparently enjoying this, "fought for their rights to…"

"Carry and use wands," replied Marta mechanically. "Now, if you'll just –"

"Not just yet, lass. Care to tell me who Ragnok the Pigeon-Toad was? Boy, does his name suck…"

"He was a prominent goblin rights activist and he wrote Little People, Big Plans. Come on, Black, I need to revise."

"You are revising," Sirius flashed her his brightest smile. "And you'll get a sip of butterbeer if you get right the name of the ministry official who met with the goblins at Chipping Clodbury to discuss the Bill of Rights."

"It's Royden Poke," she said and Sirius threw her the flask. She want to indignantly throw it back to him and tell him she didn't need his sodding butterbeer. But free butterbeer was free butterbeer and so she opened the flask and drank.

"That," remarked Black," was more than one sip."

"You're not getting back your flask until I get back my notes," said Marta. If Black could play games, so could she. She wasn't drowsy anymore. Not the tiniest bit. She felt perfectly awake and good to go with revision for at least another two hours.

"It's all yours, sunshine," Sirius drawled. "I've got a couple more anyway."

Marta sighed, rose from the cozy armchair and made a grab for her notes, but Sirius was faster. He stepped back and threw another question at her, which she answered while still chasing after him. Even while reading out loud from the parchments, Sirius was still faster than her and Marta ended up chasing him across the Common Room for a quarter of an hour, all the time spitting to him the right answers and throwing at him all kinds of insults, the most often recurring one being "a sodding git."

However the Common Room was getting pretty narrow for their chase and so Sirius opened the portrait hole and stepped into the corridor. He was probably counting on the fact that Marta didn't seem the type to risk being in the corridors after curfew. And so she wasn't, but now she was too caught up in the chase tо let him win. She saw the genuine surprise in his face as she came after him and this time her attempt to get hold of her notes was really nigh.

"Aw, can't you do better, coffee girl," Sirius said with a lowered voice, going further down the corridor but still trying to keep his steps light.

"Black, we need to get back," Marta insisted but still continued to follow him throw the pitch black corridors, lightened only by the tips of their wands. They even went down a staircase. Frankly, she wouldn't count on herself to be able to find the way back now and sincerely hoped Black would at least know how to, since he, James Potter and co. seemed to wander through the castle at night pretty often. "This is going too far."

Suddenly her leg hit something. Something that meow'd in anger and hissed spitefully.

"Mrs Norris," Marta and Sirius groaned at the same time. Barely a second had passed and they heard Filch's footsteps and his muttering. Before Marta could figure out what was happening, Sirius grabbed her hand and dragged her with him through corridors and staircases. She had no idea where they were going, but he apparently did, and so she ran with him as fast as she could.

After what felt to her aching legs like forever they abruptly stopped. Sirius let go of her hand and started walking left and right past a wall. She meant to ask him what the sodding hell he was trying to do, but before she had stopped gasping for breath, Sirius was opening a door in the wall. Even though she could barely see her surroundings, Marta was sure that door wasn't there a mere few moments ago. However, at that point she didn't have much of a choice and followed him through the door.

They found themselves in a huge hall full of four-poster beds, just like the ones in the dormitories. Most of them looked like they had never been slept in.

"What is this place?" Marta asked, awed and bemused at the same time.

"That's the Come and Go Room," said Sirius and threw himself on the nearest bed. "Also known as the Room of Requirement. Basically, it turns to whatever you need it to turn into. It's not too famous among students though and I'd appreciate it if you keep quiet about it."

"Will do," said Marta. "Though I don't owe you anything. As if this stupid game of yours is exactly what I needed during the OWLs. And look where that got us. For Merlin's sake, we left the door to the Common Room ajar, didn't we? They'd know we were Gryffindors."

"So? They won't find out who we were."

"You sure, Black?"

"Positive, Whatever-your-name-is." Only then did he hand Marta back her notes. "Make yourself comfortable and get some sleep. You already know all these, no use going through the goblin whatnot for what is probably the gaziollionth time."

Marta did not comment on that, mainly because she didn't know what to say. She chose to tuck herself under the duvet two beds away from where Sirius was lying and turn to one side. As soon as they were both comfortably snuggled in their beds, the lights in the Room of Requirement went out.

"Hey?" Sirius called out after a couple of minutes. "What's your name?"

"Marta," she yawned.

"Marta who?"

"Marta who wants to sleep."

"Real witty, coffee girl. Come on, what's wrong with your last name? You're not You-Know-Who's daughter or something?"

"Real witty right back," Marta grunted. "It's Marta Evelyn Figg McGonagall, if you must know."

"No bloody way!" Sirius yelled. "I would have known if there was someone related to McGonagall in the school! Are you her granddaughter or something?"

"Breathe, hardly anyone in my year knows. All teachers call me Figg. It's my father's name. Technically my sister and I were supposed to be Figgs. But my mother is immensely proud of her name and insisted that we have it too. Do you know, she considers herself a direct successor of Rowena Ravenclaw."

"Say what?"

"Yeah. As far as I know, McGonagall and I are the only McGonagalls not to be sorted in Ravenclaw. My sister, Moira, is in Ravenclaw. I'm not exactly the favourite daughter. Hell, are you even aware how much I want to beat her OWLs?"

"You will, too," Sirius said. "Gryffindor all the way. Everybody knows we are the smarter house anyway. We always get higher results as a house on the OWLs and the NEWTs. No worries, coffee girl. You just go and kick some ass on that exam of yours tomorrow. Good night, Figg McGonagall. "

"Night, Black."


	3. Leisure Time

**Hey there! I want to thank everyone who faved and followed, you people made my day! :) **** I would love to see your thoughts on the story, so if it's not too much to ask, please review!  
I don't own Harry Potter (the revelation!), but I do own Marta and Moira :)**

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"_I'll have you know," said Nearly-Headless Nick in his most pompous voice, "that Marta McGonagall achieved five Outstanding OWLs."_

"_Is that so?" Helena Ravenclaw, the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower, pursed her lips in contempt. "Her sister, Moira, got Outstanding on all nine she took." _

"_Just goes to show. The Sorting Hat has never failed to make a wise choice," said the ghost of Jemima McGonagall. "It just goes to show."_

"Boy, it just goes to show, Figg McGonagall, it just goes to show you shouldn't have drunk all that coffee."

"Shut it," bellowed Marta and turned around, pulling the pillow over her head. "I tried my best, okay? I should have known my best is never good enough."

"Tried your - What?" said Sirius and as soon as Marta recognized the voice as his, she shook out of her nightmare completely.

Marta removed the pillow and looked at the raven-haired boy who was currently lightly shaking her.

"You can stop that now, Black."

"You're welcome for my waking you up," beamed Sirius. "I thought you would have appreciated it. What use would it be knowing all about the goblin Bunch of Rice if you missed your exam, coffee girl."

"The Bill of Rights is pretty important anyway," muttered a sleepy-voiced Marta, "even if I happen to mi – HOLY SHIT, THE EXAM!"

She shot up from her bed in an instant, throwing the duvet on the floor. Sirius had to back away to avoid Marta clashing into him.

"Oi!" he bellowed. "Are you mental, woman? You still have an hour until the beginning of the exam. You'll be just on time for breakfast."

"I'm not having breakfast," said Marta.

"Like hell you're not," said Sirius and started pushing her towards the door.

"Don't you go all Emmeline Vance on me now," protested Marta, but she let herself be dragged out of the Room of Requirement and towards the Great Hall.

"Speaking of the devil," muttered Sirius when they reached the Great Hall and tilted his head to where Emmeline was sitting. She was currently looking grimly at her watch.

Marta bit her lip. She had no idea what she was going to say to Em. She was about to voice that thought to Sirius, but he had just seen James Potter, Remus Lupin and Peter Whatshisname and called to them that he'd join them in a moment.

"Go eat some pudding," Sirius said. "I won't talk to anyone who would refuse pudding with cranberry syrup on any occasion." Marta rolled her eyes at that. "And I'll give all your revision notes to Hagrid's dog if I find you again chewing at an empty coffee cup at 2 AM. Don't you roll your eyes at me, McGonagall."

With that, Sirius made a dash for the far end of the Gryffindor table where his friends where seated. One last half-yelled "Good luck with the goblin gibberish!" and he was gone. Marta sighed, braced herself and headed in Emmeline's direction.

"Care to explain where you were?" Em sulked.

"Yeah, sure," said Marta, grinning widely. "Pass me the cranberry pudding first though, will you?"

Emmeline gaped at her.

* * *

"I owe Black one," said Emmeline later when they were lounging by the lake. The two of them were enjoying the afternoon sunlight like the rest of the fifth-years. As the History of Magic exam didn't have a practical part, they had the afternoon free and were making the best of it. The weather was so pleasant that nobody wanted to study indoors for next day's Herbology OWL.

"Mm," uttered Marta absent-mindedly, whilst lying blissfully on the grass. She was reveling in that specific scent of flowers and summer that the June air carried. Her Herbology notes lay by her side untouched.

"You've always been the worst to be around during exam weeks. Normally right now I would be trying to convince you to leave the Common Room for at least a quick stroll. And I would be having no success whatsoever. So I would end up staying with you in the dusty Gryffindor Tower, going through material we both already knew by heart after so many studying sessions, while normal people would have the sense to at least take their revision outside. Most frustrating days of my school years."

"Sorry if said frustrating days lead to a good deal of Outstanding results," smirked Marta. "My bad."

"I," stressed Emmeline," have never been obnoxiously overachieving. Exceeding Expectations is perfectly sufficient."

"Not in my family it isn't," muttered Marta, but even that statement lacked the bitter note usually attached to it.

"And anyway," proceeded Em, "today you come to me right after the exam and I'm expecting you'd want to compare answers as usual. Instead you have a huge grin plastered on your face and you inform me you "just nailed it" and didn't I find it bizarre that an OWL should be so ridiculously easy. You never think anything is easy. You always complain how you utterly and completely failed and thus ruined your sorry life. And I have to plead with you every time to stop this crap, when everyone knows you'll get one of the highest results in our year. Do you even realize how frustrating it has been, having the same damn conversation times and times again?"

"Let me get this straight," said Marta, "you are pissed at me because of how I'm not behaving today. One would almost think you wanted my nerve-wrecked self who makes exam weeks hell for you back."

"By all means, no!" countered Emmeline. "Not at all! I'm just astonished at how quickly you changed temper. Who knew Sirius Black of all people would actually be a good influence on you. Apparently, the good influence I didn't manage to be for the five years I've known you."

Marta wasn't daft, she cottoned on that Em was just prodding her to say something more about Sirius. However, it wasn't in her nature to ask straight-forwardly, and so she tried beating around the bush in hopes that Marta would at some point reveal something more. Marta herself in fact didn't have a very precise idea what there was to reveal, and so she preferred to not talk about it for now. Em, being a good friend, eventually got the hint and stopped pestering her. She lay on the grass beside Marta and they exchanged the latest gossip and talked of holiday plans. Emmeline told her friend she was welcome to come and stay with her in her London apartment at any point during the summer, while Marta in turn invited her to join her family trip to Spain at the end of July.

"We're going to watch the Quidditch finals in Barcelona," Marta explained. "I already asked mum if you could come and she said of course you could."

And so they talked and talked while the sky blazed a clear and crystal blue and the flowery scent of summer could be felt in the air. For the first time Marta had a chance to reflect that there was actually something very beautiful about the exam weeks in general, the way they brought all the people from their year together. Especially now when they weren't just the regular end of year exams, but the notorious OWLs, the students, though more stressed than ever, found themselves being more friendly and talkative to their peers. Even if they usually didn't have much to say to each other, the OWLs turned out to be as good a conversation topic as any. Besides everyone was excited and that was something they were living through together. Marta was thinking to herself that the exam atmosphere was, however tense, also pretty enchanting indeed.

The afternoon could have continued for the fifth-year students in the same fashion, had the headmaster's voice, amplified by the Sonorus charm, not thundered just then.

"All fifth-year and sixth-year students are kindly asked to assemble in the Great Hall. I shall repeat that one more time: all fifth-year and sixth year students, please assemble in the Great Hall immediately. Attendance will be taken."

Thus Marta and Emmeline were forced to get up and leave their comfortable place in the sun. They exchanged confused looks and headed towards the Great Hall.

"Any idea what that could be about?" asked Em.

"Nope," said Marta. "Maybe a change in the OWLs schedule? It's the only thing I can think of."

"If that's the case though, what would the sixth-years have to do with it? Their exams don't start until after the OWLs, right?"

"No idea. Well, we'll find out soon enough anyway."

When they entered the Great Hall, it was already crammed with flabbergasted fifth- and sixth-year students. Marta and Em asked around, but no one appeared to know the reason for the gathering. Out of the corner of her eye Marta saw Sirius having an animated conversation with James Potter. To her chagrin he caught her looking at him, waved feebly at her direction and turned back to James.

All conversations came to a halt when Dumbledore entered the Great Hall, followed by McGonagall, Flitwick, Slughorn and Filch. The heads of the four houses gathered their students and started taking attendance. It felt a bit like the sorting ceremony, as McGonagall called her students by last names, starting with "Black, Sirius."

"Evans, Lily"

"Here."

"Figg, Marta."

"Here."

Emmeline was last and after she had been called upon, McGonagall gave them all an unusually stern look even for her, before darting towards the podium to rejoin Dumbledore. The other teachers followed suit, after having established that all of their students had shown up. Marta searched the Ravenclaw group for her sister and managed to finally distinguish her. Moira saw her too and gave her an encouraging smile, which Marta returned. However, as Dumbledore began speaking, the smile froze on her face.

"First of all, I wish to apologize to each and every one of you, who doesn't have anything to do with why you have been called here, for interrupting your afternoon rest or perhaps revision. That said, I am displeased to inform you all that the answer keys to the written part of the OWLs and the sixth-years' final exams have been stolen last night. Worry not, whoever had done this has wasted their time, for they will not be able to unseal them, as they have been bound with very powerful magic. This is why I want to assure you that the OWLs will not be cancelled and will proceed undisturbed. However, I hope you understand that this is too grave a deed to be passed by. When – not if, but when – we find out who is responsible for this, the most natural solution is that they be expelled. However, if they come to me or to their respective head of house before we establish their identity, it could be avoided. There will still be harsh consequences, but they will be allowed to continue their education at Hogwarts – as long as they have the courage, and might I add, the sensibility, to step forward."

There was dead silence in the hall. Only Filch wouldn't stop coughing.

"Ah yes," said Dumbledore. "As Mister Filch here reminded me, the entrance to the Gryffindor Common Room was found ajar last night. Anyway – I don't want to hold you in more than I have to. Enjoy your free afternoon and to all fifth-year students, good luck on the Herbology OWL tomorrow!"

Marta had tried to play dumb and pretend she didn't notice how Emmeline kept staring at her the whole time Dumbledore was talking. When he dismissed them, she swiftly disappeared in the crowd, so as to postpone the inevitable did-you-or-didn't-you talk with her best friend. She needed to find Sirius and she needed to find him soon.


	4. Herbology: Theory

**Many ****thanks to The Mighty Mouse for being my lovely proofreader and to Ridiculousity for the support, as well as to everyone who followed and fave'd the story! :) I hope you enjoy the chapter.**

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Another pebble dropped in the lake with a gentle _splash_ and disturbed the stillness and the spellbinding tranquility of the crystal clear water. Marta had half a dozen more pebbles in her palm and was ruefully wondering which one to be the next to embark on a journey towards the bottom of the lake. It wasn't much of a pastime, but it was better than being around people. Anyway, she had already fallen out with the people she currently might have wanted to be around. The rest of the students would now be heading towards the Great Hall for dinner. _Splash_. Marta, on the other hand, would continue throwing pebbles.

As she now reflected on it, it had been a ginormous mistake to try running away from Emmeline. In doing this she must have immediately confirmed whatever suspicions might have started forming in Em's mind. It hadn't had any success too.

_Emmeline caught up with her soon enough, dragged her to the girls' toilet and locked the door._

"_I don't believe this," she hissed, keeping her voice down, but still shaking with anger._

"_On the contrary, you clearly do," muttered Marta, but Em didn't acknowledged her. _

"_You could have at least tried to put some act on. "I nailed it," she snorted. "Please, Marta. Whoever has talked to you more than twice would have figured out that wasn't you. Oh wait – that still narrows down the people, since you are close to the most antisocial person I've ever known. I can't – I can't even begin to wrap my words around what downright idiots you and Black have been. You are the last person on Earth to need those answer keys. I might have been frustrated with your ambition at times, but I have always, always respected it. I would never have believed that you would lose your dignity to the point of even considering doing something similar."_

"_Are you done yet?" Marta asked._

"_Not until you go and tell Dumbledore."_

_That was the moment in which Marta had to evoke all her self-control in order not to punch Emmeline._

"_Marta, you must. They will find out it was you two. Your only shot at finishing your education at Hogwarts is to tell them before that. I will go with you, if you want me to. I will tell Dumbledore how you have always been an overachiever and how especially in the weeks before the OWLs you were driving yourself crazy, pulling ridiculous all-nighters just to go through shit you already knew. You know that he is understanding, plus he is aware you have always been an excellent and diligent student. I honestlydon't know about Black, but for you my guess is that the consequences won't be too harsh. Look, you really have to –"_

_But Marta silently Alohomora'd the door and swiftly ran out. On no condition would she endure listening to that utterly insulting speech for even one more minute. It was quite hurtful that the friend who knew her the best was accusing her of attempting to fake her results. _

_Marta didn't stop running, until she reached the Gryffindor Common Room. It was empty, if not for a couple of first-years, who were playing Wizard's Chess by the fireplace. The girl's castle had just smashes to pieces the boy's knight. _

"_Marta!" bellowed Sirius from the upper step of the staircase leading to the boys' dormitories. He beckoned for her to climb the stairs. _

"_There won't be anyone in here for a while," he explained as he closed the door to the sixth-year dormitories. _

"_Alright," said Marta and sat on the nearest bed._

_Sirius was passing a hand through his raven black hair. That seemed to be his nervous tick. He suddenly snapped and kicked the nightstand next to his bed in frustration._

"_My bloody best friend," he gritted through his teeth," James bloody Potter, actually suspects us. Turns out his invisibility cloak has been missing. Convenient, eh?"_

"_His – Wait, he –"_

"_Has an invisibility cloak. Wow. So awesome," Sirius said with the most flat tone he could manage. "Not the point now, though."_

"_Well, if that will make you feel any better, Emmeline just tried to convince me to go talk to Dumbledore about how studying has turned me into a nutter who would rather cheat than not get Outstanding on all her OWLs. She is already so utterly convinced it was us and she doesn't even have an invisibility cloak gone missing," Marta tried to joke._

"_Tough."_

"_Oh, yes. Bloody hell," groaned Marta. "How did we just happen to be out of the Common Room precisely the night on which the sodding answer keys were stolen?" _

"_So we messed up," said Sirius. "Now all that we can do is –"_

"_Oh, no. _We_ didn't mess up. _You_ messed up," she clarified. "I was only studying for the most important exams in my life and you just had to come barging in, didn't you. Wanted to have some fun because you were too bored, I guess. No better way that to annoy that fifth-year antisocial bore who does nothing but study, is there?"_

"_Whoa, wait. I have a feeling this escalated too quickly. Look, Marta, I'm bloody sorry about that, got it? So what if I was trying to have some fun? So maybe I went a bit too far, but you know we would have gotten away with it had it not be for that moron who stole the answer keys."_

"_Yeah, and how do I know it wasn't actually you?" _

"_Unbelievable," Sirius snorted and gave her a dead glare. "I don't know why I even bothered." And with that he exited the dormitory, slamming the door behind him and leaving Marta sitting on that bed feeling like crap significantly more than she had a mere minute ago._

_She was not been able to move for another few minutes, then she went to her dormitory, which was also empty, and childishly cried in her pillow over how unfair things were. Then she went to the Owlery to send Sirius a note._

"_I'm really sorry, okay? Let's figure something out together?  
Please don't hate me,  
Coffee Girl."_

She had gone back to her bed and had decided to take a nap, expecting that there'd an owl waiting for her when she woke up. There hadn't been.

And thus Marta had found herself sitting by the lake and throwing pebbles, although she was starving. She just couldn't face going to the Great Hall and seeing Emmeline or Sirius, when she had been so unfair to the latter and the former had been so unfair to her.

"Sis?" someone coughed behind her. "You hungry?"

Without waiting for a reply, Moira sat next to her and put a tray which she had been levitating between them. On the tray there was a huge plate filled with lamb chops, Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes and fried tomatoes, a jug of pumpkin juice and two glasses, and a dessert plate which contained some chocolate éclairs, a couple of jam doughnuts and about a dozen strawberries.

"How did you know I was here?" asked Marta.

"Jas said she saw you heading towards the lake. I figured you might be hungry and I brought a few things so we could eat together."

"That's really sweet of you, Mo."

"I know right? I just thought it's been a while since we've had a sweet sister-ish moment."

"And so it has," said Marta and handed Moira a glass of pumpkin juice that she had just filled.

"Thanks," said her twin. "How did History of Magic go?"

"Fine," said Marta and picked with her fork a potato. "You?"

"Fine," said Moira while cutting herself a piece from the pudding.

For a while they ate in silence, then Marta told her sister about how she and Sirius had to spend the entire night in the Room of Requirement.

"Sounds like fun," said Moira, her eyes glinting with something between envy and awe. "Why don't such things ever happen to me?"

"Because a lot more exciting things happen to you," said Marta. "Anyway. We were the ones who left the door of our Common Room ajar, not the person or people who stole the answer keys. You see what that means?"

"Ah. That if they find out you were missing that night, you'll be pretty much screwed."

"Pretty much."

"You know what you have to do, right? Find out who actually did it, because otherwise they'll just assume it was you."

"So you don't think it _was_ us?"

"Dear sis, you would rather eat a cockroach than cheat on an exam," giggled Moira. "As for Black, that's too low for him. From what I know, he pulls classy pranks."

Marta giggled too, even though the remark about that being below Sirius stung and once again made her feel utterly stupid for how she had been with him previously. She thought she must try harder to apologize on the next day.

"And anyway, you could be the personification of the answer keys, what would you even need them for."

"You have always been the better one," remarked Marta. "You've never had anything less than Outstanding on anything."

"Neither have you," retorted Moira. "What's this rubbish about me being the better one? To hell with all that studying. Mum wouldn't let me play Quidditch if I didn't get Outstanding on everything. And Quidditch _is_ my life."

Marta didn't say anything.

"You know I wanted to take five or six OWLs only?" Moira said.

"You did?"

"Well of course. What would I need nine OWLs for anyway? Then of course on mum went about how I could say goodbye to my broom if I didn't get at least nine Outstanding OWLs. You on the other hand. You really care. I admire that."

"Emmeline is utterly convinced we did it. She even tried to convince me to go to Dumbledore's office about this."

"She'll come around. She knows you."

"Not like you do apparently."

"A sister always knows best," Moira winked and then grabbed for a strawberry, but there weren't any on the plate. "Hey, when did you eat the last strawberries?"

"I didn't."

"I did," said Sirius and startled them both. "Do excuse me for the interruption. And holy shit, you really _are_ twins."

"Observant, are you," Moira replied sardonically.

"The Colibri herself," Sirius smirked. "Never thought I'd see you out of the Quidditch pitch. No, honestly though, Marta, all the time I had this feeling that you look strikingly familiar and it was eating me up, because I couldn't figure out where from. But I would never had made the connection, had I not seen you two together."

Marta saw why he wouldn't too. She and her sister would have been physically identical if not for the haircut and the eyes. Marta's eyes were a deep chocolate brown, while Moira's were a beautiful aquamarine. Marta liked to keep her hair long, so that it came almost up to her waist; her sister, on the other hand, had a really short haircut. That's why no one ever had any problem distinguishing one of the Figg twins from the other. Many people weren't even aware there were twins at Hogwarts. Another explanation for that was that the two sister hardly seemed to have anything in common. Moira was the brilliant Ravenclaw Seeker, known to the whole school as The Colibri for her remarkable speed, while Marta preferred to keep to herself and had managed to stay as inconspicuous as possible. There was just this one time the last school year that someone had actually confused her for her sister. It was just after the Ravenclaw versus Slytherin match in which Moira had caught the Snitch on the fifth minute in spite of the rain and the fog through which even the spectators could hardly see what was happening on the pitch. A first-year Hufflepuff had stopped Marta on her way to the library and had asked her for an autograph. The twins had later had a jolly good laugh over that.

"Well Black," Moira grinned, "if that's any consolation, you are nothing like your moron of a brother either. I swear next time he tries to push me off my broom, I will push his sodding head off his body."

Sirius burst out laughing.

"You go girl. I must confess I thoroughly enjoyed watching how you caught the Snitch from under Regulus's nose that last game. The look on his face was priceless. I laughed so hard I choked. "

Moira curtsied which caused Sirius and Marta to chuckle.

"Well, I shall leave you two now," she said after that. "Best of luck and, sis, keep me posted!"

"Will do," Marta beamed at her. When her sister left she turned to Sirius: "So…"

"So…"

"Did you get my owl?"

"Yeah. I thought I was going to talk to you after dinner, but then you weren't in the Great Hall. Remus said he saw you heading towards the lake and I took his word for it."

"Apparently everybody saw me heading towards the lake," sighed Marta. "I am sorry I was such a prat."

"You had a reason to be. After all if it hadn't been for me –"

"Not true," she cut him short. "I followed you in the corridor, didn't I? I'm taking my responsibility for it. Moira suggested that we find who stole the answer keys. It's the only way we'll be off the hook for sure."

They shook on it. Then out of the blue Marta impulsively hugged him, surprising both Sirius and herself. Equally unexpectedly he wrapped his arms around her and they remained like that for a while. Marta rested her head on his shoulder and thought that the moment had a perfect tint to it, despite the mess they'd gotten themselves into. There was a slight breeze from the lake and the typical for the month of June sweet linden aroma in the air.

"You should really get some sleep tonight. We'll think of something tomorrow after your exam, alright?"

"Alright," said Marta and yawned. It was her first day without coffee in a long, long time and she was already feeling the exhaustion sinking in.

Sirius walked her to the Common Room. She went straight to her bed and was glad Emmeline wasn't in the dormitory already as she felt too tired to have a conversation like the one from earlier that day. Marta turned to one side and fell asleep almost immediately.

* * *

If Marta's sleep had been the best one in ages, the longest and the most peaceful, her waking up was the complete opposite. She would have slept in, had it not been for Emmeline. She woke up to Em throwing at her a dress to put on and yelling that she needed to get up this instant if she didn't want them both to miss the Herbology OWL.

"The exam starts in five," declared Em. "Hurry up! I should have woken you up for breakfast, but given the way we broke things yesterday, thought it better to talk after the exams. Luckily I decided to check on you once again."

Marta threw her pajamas off, pulled her dress over her head and grabbed a pair of flats. The girls ran out in a flash and didn't stop to catch their breath until they had reached the Great Hall, which for the purposed of the exams looked like a giant classroom and there was a giant clock face and pendulum on the podium. Marta and Em were the last to arrive, but thankfully, they weren't late, although it had been a really close call. They exchanged brief smile and took their places.

Marta didn't know whether it was because of the stressful beginning of the day, but she wasn't feeling well at all. The exam questions were more than manageable for her, but when halfway through the exam she was already finding it a hell of a task to concentrate, since the room had started spinning just so slightly, her hands were trembling, and her throat felt dry. Images of her mother being informed that her Gryffindor daughter had attempted to steal the answer keys to the OWLs kept flashing through her head. Marta struggled to keep them at bay at least until she finished her exam. She braced all her willpower and capacity to work efficiently and went through the remaining questions as quickly as possible. There was just that one open question left and it wasn't like she didn't know the answer to it. Her mind had just gone blank. She could think of nothing but how much she wanted a gulp of water and what would her mother say if she was to be accused of stealing the answer keys. The room was spinning more than ever.

Finally the girl stood up, supporting herself on the desk. She was able to walk all the way to the podium and hand in her exam. Then she walked out, almost in a straight-line, first from her fellow fifth-years, when there were still two hours left until the end of the OWL.

Marta had already managed most of the way to the hospital wing when she collapsed in the corridor.


	5. Herbology: Practice

**Ever grateful to The Mighty Mouse for proofreading, to Ridiculousity for nagging me to write, and to BeardyBob for taking the time to read and review! I wouldn't have found the necessary motivation without you, guys.**

* * *

"I failed Herbology so bad," groaned Marta and buried her hands in her face.

"Like hell," Sirius snorted.

"No, I did. I missed a question."

"Oh snap, a whole question?" the boy sneered "I don't know how you're even alive."

"It was an open answer question," sulked Marta.

"You are still fine, if you've managed everything else correctly, which we both know you have."

"We don't. I handed in before Jasmine Lovegood, my sister's nutter of a best friend. She is the person from our year to always, and I mean always, hand in first on important exams. She just doesn't give a flying rat's arse. Well, I handed in before her. That's it, five years' worth of hard work dumped in the trash."

"Have you seen how long Lovegood's legs are though? No wonder she doesn't give a flying rat's arse about stu –"

"That's it, Black. Leave."

"Just what I was about to tell him, Miss Figg," said Madam Pomfrey, who had just emerged from her cabinet, with a fierce approval in her voice.

"Right," said Sirius. "Well good luck on the practical."

When he exited the hospital wing, Marta sank down in her pillow and pulled the bedding over her head.

It was James who had found her lying in the corridor.

"_Blimey, girl, are you okay?" she heard someone say as he kneeled next to her. It took her a few seconds to identify the voice as James Potter's. "Hey, Padfoot! PADFOOT!"_

_Marta didn't have any idea what "padfoot" was, but she let James lift her from the ground and leaned on him. She was still trembling slightly. There came the sound of nearing footsteps and in a moment another person was kneeling next to her. _

"_No way," a gentle voice muttered and Sirius brushed lightly with one finger the hair from her eyes. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, you were supposed to be sitting an OWL just now, coffee girl. Coffee didn't come to the rescue or what?"_

_Marta gave a feeble laugh._

"_Handed in," she managed to utter, though her throat was still hoarse and very much in need of water. "Thought I was going to black out, so I tried to at least get the theory over with."_

"_You still have an afternoon exam, don't you?" inquired James._

_Marta nodded. The boys helped her on her feet and supported her to the hospital wing. _

"_Right, I'm off to the library," declared James. "I really have to finish that essay for McGonagall."_

_Marta thanked him, he flashed her a blinding smile and was off._

"_A charmer, ain't he," Sirius smirked. "He'd wish Lily Evans had seen that. What's the use of behaving gentlemanly if she's not around to notice?"_

_Sirius stayed with Marta while Madam Pomfrey saw to her. Stress, she said, and indignantly went on about how unhealthy an effect the exams had on the students._

"_Sleep should still come in the first place, dearie," she insisted. "The same goes for regular and sufficient meals."_

_Marta just nodded half-heartedly, while forcing herself to drink the potion Madam Pomfrey had handed her. It had a horrid taste, as if it was a mix of rotten seasonal fruit and some especially spicy herbs. It burned her throat and with every sip she took she grimaced in disgust and felt like throwing up, but nevertheless forced herself to gulp it down. Sirius chuckled at the faces she made and teased her that she resembled an infuriated gnome ("You know, the way they scrunch up their funny little noses.") However, when Madam Pomfrey told Marta that she had better not resort to coffee for the rest of the exam period, he burst out laughing so loud that the appalled nurse almost kicked him out._

"_That girl needs her rest, young man," she said._

_The pair of them pleaded with her for ten more minutes and she reluctantly surrendered._

"_Ten minutes," she huffed, "no more!" and darted to her cabinet. _

_As soon as she was gone Sirius swiftly cast a Muffliato charm so that they could not be overheard._

"_Is this really hard on you or what?"_

"_My mother will disown me," Marta groaned._

"_She won't, because you won't be accused of something you didn't do. You do realize the more time has passed, the slimmer the chance that they'll find out we were missing that night?"_

"_You do realize they'll be mostly after Gryffindors, because they have something to go on there?" _

"_Fair point. Well, in all honesty, if my mother disowned me, I might just throw a party. However, I guess if stealing the answer keys goes on my academic record, it'll ruin my chances of becoming an Auror. And I can't envision myself doing anything else. And imagine McGonagall's disappointment. She was the first to encourage me and tell me she firmly believed I had potential."_

Then the conversation had switched to Marta failing Herbology and Sirius finding Jasmine Lovegood hot, at which thought Marta unwillingly scrunched up her nose.

She had an hour and something until lunch to rest before her afternoon exam. She was already feeling better, so it seemed that the horrible thing the nurse had given her had worked after all. Just as the girl started turning to one side, something brushed against her sleeve. Marta reached out with her other hand to grab it and found out it was a crumpled piece of parchment.

"_Remember where the goblins led us__? Meet you there after your exam."_

Marta absent-mindedly thought that was quite a subtle way to refer to the Room of Requirement, as she was reciting in her mind the steps for best tackling the fanged geranium.

* * *

"Marta! Wait up, I –" Emmeline yelled and ran after her.

"Not now, Em," Marta cut her off. She had just finished her practical exam and was hurrying up a staircase. Her friend had caught up with her and had chosen the worst moment possible to offer her sincere apologies on a silver platter.

"Look, I really am sorry I suspected you and said all those horrible things," Em was saying, trying to catch her breath, while she was struggling to keep up with Marta. "Plus I realized that Dumbledore said that the answer keys couldn't be opened anyway, so the "I nailed it" concerning the History of Magic exam couldn't have been about that."

Marta didn't stop for a second.

"Seriously, how many times do I have to repeat that I'm sorry? Stop and hear me out for a moment."

"I'm not angry at you, Em," replied Marta, without slowing her pace. "I'm just in a hurry."

"What for?"

No reply.

"Well, I guess I'll find out soon enough, since I'm coming with you, Marta McGonagall!"

"Who's coming where?" said Moira, who just ran into them, going down the staircase. She had finished with the exam a good forty minutes before Marta. The latter had wanted to compensate for handing in so fast on the theory exam and so she had stayed until the very end on the practical, although her fanged geranium was already long since impeccably planted.

"Marta wouldn't tell me, but I'm following her anyway," Em pulled a face.

"I'll bet you 10 sickles that she has a date with Sirius Black," Moira smirked.

"Gibberish," Marta said, but she blushed nonetheless.

Now she had both Emmeline and Moira on her trail – Em because she was concerned, but also curious, and Moira, because she was bored. Since Marta saw no way of convincing those two to leave her for the time being, she had no choice but to lead them with her towards the Room of Requirement. Provided that she managed to find it of course, because it was well starting to look like she wouldn't be able to.

The girls stopped at a landing and Marta looked around frantically. No, that wasn't it. It was utterly hopeless. Now she could just think up some bullshit excuse for Em and Moira as to where she had intended to go and head back to the Common Room.

"Well, I am retarded," suddenly exclaimed Moira.

"Where did that come from?" asked Marta.

"You are going to the Room of Requirement, aren't you?"

Marta gaped at her, while Emmeline said: "The what?"

"How do you – " trailed Marta.

"Potter mentioned y'all would be meeting there later to come up with a plan for finding out who actually stole the answer keys. I just didn't know how late "later" meant and didn't make the connection."

"Merlin forbid, since when are you on friendly terms with James Potter?"

"I was never not on friendly terms with him. We just don't talk a lot, being Quidditch rivals and all that. So anyway, the Room of Requirement then? I don't know if you tried on purpose to get as far from it as possible, because if that was your goal, cheers, sis - mission accomplished."

Marta sighed. She suspected she couldn't have gotten the way more wrong if she tried. She was a bit taken aback that Moira knew where the Room of Requirement was, but Moira was just the type of person who tended to know things most people wouldn't.

At least when they reached the place Marta immediately recognised it. Moira started walking past the wall, just as Sirius had, and on the third time she did that a door appeared. Marta made a mental note to ask either her sister or Sirius how that worked. Emmeline was completely clueless as to what was happening and she kept looking around with a flabbergasted expression.

This time the Room of Requirement wasn't lined up with dozens of four-poster beds. Now it looked just like a common room, with several armchairs, a fireplace and a plush carpet covering the whole floor. Sirius, James Potter, the pale Lupin boy and the short chubby boy whose name Marta always forgot were already there.

"Didn't expect you so early," remarked Sirius.

"Sorry," muttered Marta, "we got a tad lost."

"Not only are you late, but there's also too many of you and not enough armchairs," teased James.

"That so, Potter? Then we'd better be creative, hadn't we?" Moira cocked an eyebrow and then without a warning sat in his lap, which stirred a wave of comments along the lines of "Oh, feisty!", "Creativity at its finest!" and such.

"Want to get creative, Marta?" Sirius grinned.

"Oh sod off," said Marta and sat on the floor. Emmeline followed suit.

"Okay," cleared his throat James and handed Moira, who was still sitting in his lap, a piece of parchment. "Remus here, being a prefect and all, assembled for us a list of the fifth and sixth year students who would benefit from stealing the answer keys.

"I generally know who struggles with grades," Remus clarified. "Then, we have to guess who might have possibly teamed up with whom, as we are probably looking for a fifth and a sixth year working together."

Moira read the list out loud. It consisted of all in all six Slytherins, two Hufflepuffs and one Ravenclaw student.

"Rosier, who is in our year, might have worked with Nott or Macnair," shot Moira immediately. "Malini Patil from my house, on the other hand, is an item with sixth-year Paul Abbott from Hufflepuff. I know for a fact that she's struggling with Potions, but wants to become a healer. Tough for her and a lot of pressure, but she doesn't strike me as the type to get involved in such an endeavor."

"But apparently I struck James here as the type to desperately need the answer keys to our ridiculously unimportant end of year exams," snorted Sirius.

"Oh lay off it," snapped James. "It was suspicious, okay? You gone the whole night before the answer keys disappeared and my invisibility cloak missing – how does it look?"

"I mean, it's _the sixth-year_ exams," continued Sirius absolutely appalled, "it's the year between the OWLs and the NEWTs. Literally no one gives a flying toad what we get on them, as long as we pass."

"Yeah, but I thought Marta might have needed the answer keys to the OWLS and that maybe you thought you could use the –"

"Use the bloody what? When have I gotten a grade below Exceeding Expectations? No, tell me, I'm listening. When exactly –"

"Well, since you asked," said the chubby boy sheepishly, "that time in third year you did get on your Potions essay –"

"Shut it, Peter," Sirius cut him short. "That was in third year."

"OK, guys, not the point," chimed in Emmeline. "James and I are sorry we actually thought it might have been you. Even before he found out he had just forgotten his invisibility cloak at a tunnel to Hogsmeade, we had realized –"

"Wait," said Marta, "wait, what? 'James and I'? I don't remember you two ever talking to each other."

"But fancy that," added Sirius, "we seem to have been a hot topic. Suspecting Sirius and Marta – brings people together quicker than you can say 'Quidditch.'"

"Should have got some popcorn," muttered Moira, at which Remus gave a half smile, as he was the only one who heard her.

After everybody calmed down a bit, they actually managed to have a decent discussion without snapping or teasing. They reached an important conclusion: that whoever had stolen the answer keys probably had connections in the Ministry, as the important exams were always controlled by the Ministry. These people must have had someone to tell them where to look for what they needed.

"I can run the names by my mother," suggested Peter, "she works in the Ministry."

"Not to sound condescending, Wormtail, but she works in the Ministry's kitchen," clarified James.

"But would still know who works in the Ministry, right?" said Sirius. "Wormy is right, running their last names by his mother is a great idea. We could have them by tomorrow, right?"

"Mum always replies to my owls immediately," shrugged Peter.

The other smart thing that got suggested was that they needed to look into the career path their suspects had chosen and their respective grades in the subjects they needed to take in order to be eligible for that job.

"We need to know things like Malini Patil struggling with Potions, but wanting to become a Healer," reasoned Remus.

"Asking around would be too suspicious," said Emmeline.

"Who's talking about asking around?" said Sirius.

"Well, what are you suggesting? Doing some lucky guessing?"

"It's obvious, isn't it?" bellowed Sirius with excitement. "We have to get our hands on the notes taken during each person's career consultation."

"You can't possibly be suggesting –" Marta screeched.

"Breaking into McGonagall's office, yes" James finished his friend's thought.

"Wicked," grinned Moira.


	6. Defense Against the Dark Arts

**This chapter is dedicated to my friend, a random Killjoy, who isn't a Harry Potter fan (appalling, I know right?!) but was kind-natured enough to give me a gulp of her water bottle even though I was 15-ish minutes lat****e – because of being in the process of writing this chapter.  
****Also, chapter six owns its existence mainly to Ridiculousity's fierce demanding of an update.  
**

* * *

In five years' time Marta's breakfast habits hadn't changed much.

Usually, she was all about fruit and sweets. She would pile her plate high with seasonal fruit, cauldron cakes, mint humbugs and the likes. She couldn't stand cool drinks and had either coffee with milk and cream or very sweetened tea. It was one aspect in which the Figg sisters were strikingly identical.

However during exam weeks Marta's breakfast habits were missing altogether, while Moira would still be happily going at her second helping of chocolate pancakes or such every morning. Except that this time she wasn't, because just as she had been about to reach out for a second vanilla muffin, James Potter had called out to her from the Gryffindor table and they had gotten into an argument which had soon escalated to the point where they had the attention of every student in the Great Hall, be they fifth-years trying to study for their DADA OWL or not.

"You know we wouldn't have lost if our best Chaser hadn't been injured at the time!" Moira yelled.

"But you did lose, Mo darling," James beamed at her. "And besides Winslade is not even that good. So you might as well suck it up. Who knows… Ravenclaw might get to win the Quidditch cup next year perhaps. Ah, who am I kidding, our team's too good."

"Say what, Potter? Winslade is bloody terrific. And, excuse me, suck it up? As if you have sucked up that, yes, Gryffindor won, but it was _me_ who caught the Snitch under your Seeker's bloody nose."

"It was a close call anyway!" James shot back.

"Please, Goodwin was metres behind me! Metres!"

"Only because Lovegood nearly pushed her of her broom! How they didn't acknowledge it as a faul is beyond me…"

"They didn't, because it wasn't," said Moira.

"Was too," said James.

"Like hell," retorted Moira. "It's so unfair that we have to wait until the next school year for the next Quidditch match, because I am just dying to erase that smile off your face."

"You know, I have to agree with you for once. It's a shame we can't just hold a match right now so that you'd stop prattling about how you actually have a chance at beating us."

The verbal battle was so intense that the spectators had a hard time switching their gaze from James to Moira and then back to James, when someone else drew the collective attention of the students.

"Oh, sod it. Why the hell not?" shouted Jasmine Lovegood, shooting up from her seat. "Why don't we hold a match on Saturday? Not for the cup. Not for house points. Just Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw and whoever wins, wins dignity."

"You, my friend, are brilliant," said Moira and gave a fierce nod of approval. "What Jas said! What do you reckon, Potter? Are you willing to take part in one last game?"

"It's on," bellowed James and slammed his fist on the table. "It's so on!"

"On the contrary, Mr Potter," said Professor McGonagall, "it's so off."

What with the intensity of the argument between two of Hogwarts's most prominent Quidditch players, nobody had noticed her approaching.

"But Professor –"

"Potter, as you must well know, Miss Figg as well as other players of both your house teams, have OWLs this and the following week."

"That's why we'll have the match on Saturday, Professor," tried to reason Moira.

"Both of you," hissed McGonagall, eyeing both James and Moira with a piercing glare, "just because you are captains doesn't mean that you have the right to abuse your powers and deny your teammates their rightful time to study for their most important exams so far. Your Quidditch rivalry is not more important than their – yes, and yours too, Miss Figg, - career chances."

"Professor McGonagall, I will play absolutely voluntarily," said Jasmine.

"I'm sure your enthusiasm will be appreciated, Miss Lovegood, but the game is not happening. It's not even a question."

Just as she said that, half a dozen people from the Gryffindor table shot up and started chanting: "Quidditch! Quidditch!" Among them were Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Peter Pettigrew. More people followed their example and soon almost every person on the Gryffindor table had chimed in. Students from the other tables followed suits, even most of the Slytherins. Quidditch brought people together and brought excitement. Everyone loved a good and challenging game. Plus, almost every fifth-year would rather loosen up a little on Saturday and shake off all the nerves and the anxiety and then get back to studying on Sunday afresh, instead of biting their nails the whole weekend.

"Silence!" bellowed Professor McGonagoll's amplified voice. The chanting died down. "Very well, Mr Potter, Miss Figg. But only provided all of your team members consent to play."

"I consent," Jаs said immediately.

"I do too," said her brother, seventh-year Xenophilius Lovegood. Like his sister, he was playing a Beater for the Ravenclaw team.

"I'm playing," announced the Gryffindor Chaser Amanda Bell and high-fived James. They looked expectantly at the third Chaser of the Gryffindor team, Dorcas Meadows.

"James, I'm sorry," she sighed. "My becoming an Auror depends on the Potions OWL on Monday. You'll understand, you were a bit worried about Potions too last year. Please don't hate me."

James seemed torn between wanting to be understandable and wanting to try pleading with her. Fortunately, Sirius chimed in just then.

"I'll fill in for Dorcas."

The Beaters, Marlene McKinnon and Frank Longbottom and the Keeper, Syllas Wood, were all in. Meanwhile so were the Ravenclaw Keeper Lydia Davis and the Chasers Jasper Winslade and Martin Edgecomb. However, Malini Patil, the third Ravenclaw Chaser, also apologized that it'd be Potions the whole weekend for her. Moira couldn't say anything but that it was fine, because she knew how important it was to Malini to achieve her goal of becoming a Healer. It was what she had wanted since first year. And so the Colibri looked expectantly at the students from her house, hoping that someone would step in to fill Malini's place. No one did.

"Oh come on, people! No one? Seventh-years – fancy one last game at Hogwarts? Surely there must be someone who wants to see Gryffindor go down this once?"

"There is indeed," said a dark-haired boy with stormy grey eyes. Only he wasn't among the people at whom Moira had directed her beseeching gaze. He was the fifth-year Slytherin Evan Rosier.

"Absolutely not! He's not even from Ra – "bellowed James, but suddenly something seventh-year Hestia Jones was saying drew his attention. "What do you mean_, Kate Goodwin isn't at Hogwarts?_"

"Her sister's getting married," Hestia was explaining. "Kate's going home for the wedding, which is on Saturday."

"Well, she might bloody well skip it!" yelled James. "I don't care if she's going to Apparate or something, I want my bloody Seeker here on Sat – yes, Emmeline, I _am_ aware you can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, thank you very much!"

"Oi, Potter!" called out Regulus Black, who was two seats away from Rosier on the Slytherin table. "I'm volunteering to take your Seeker's place. Take it or leave it."

"You _what_?" burst out Sirius.

"I have no idea what's in it for you, Black, but welcome on the team," said James without thinking twice.

"_What_?" repeated Sirius.

"Practice on Friday, 5 PM, be there," said James.

"Hey, Rosier, did you hear?" called out Moira. "Saturday, 6 AM, don't be late for practice."

"I want to remind all fifth-year students," Dumbledore's voice thundered over everyone, "that they are still sitting an OWL in ten minutes. All other students are kindly asked to leave the Great Hall."

Marta, who had until then followed the whole scene while holding her breath, now observed as the four grand tables were levitated to be lined up against the walls and desks were starting to appear in their place.

* * *

It was unheard of such a light atmosphere among the students in the period between a morning and an afternoon exam. However the announcement of the Quidditch match on Saturday had lifted everyone's spirits. The thought of a second exam week was easier to bear when there was something to look forward to before it.

Nobody was discussing what they wrote on the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL. Werewolves wasn't one of the topics students generally struggled with. The practical part of the DADA examination was what worried the student body for the most part but now even its imminence didn't cause as much commotion as it usually would.

"Well played," Marta congratulated her sister. "Really well played, Mo. If I hadn't been there when we thought up the plan, I'd have totally bought the whole Quidditch rivalry thing."

"Tell you what, sis," Mo laughed, "I almost bought it myself. Frankly, even when I know we're holding the game only as a distraction while you guys break into McGonagall's office, it's still sure as hell going to be fun. Quidditch _is_ my element, after all. And if James is thinking I'm not going to play up to my absolute best, he is very much mistaken! The only thing I'm worried about is Rosier being on my team."

"I think Sirius is much more worried about Regulus being on the Gryffindor team," said Marta. "Did you see his expression?"

"I sure did," grinned Moira. "I chortled into my pumpkin juice and almost choked on it."

Marta chuckled.

"Gotta run, sis," said Mo. "I have to find Jas. Oh, by the way, Sirius was looking for you. I think he said he'd be by the lake."

And by the lake is where Marta found him, engrossed in a conversation with Remus. As soon as he saw her, Sirius grinned widely and waved at her.

"Think fast," he said when she had gotten close enough.

"What –"

"_Stupefy!_"

"_Protego!_"

A shield had risen between them, blocking successfully Sirius's stunning spell. Marta backtracked and let out the breath she'd been holding.

"What the hell was that?" she yelled.

"Just checking your DADA skills," Sirius beamed at her. "Looks like you'll be fine. Not that I've expected anything less."

As soon as the shield was removed, Marta ran to give him a hug. Remus muttered that he'd be going and left Sirius and Marta alone. They plopped themselves on the grass, Sirius's hand lightly brushing against Marta's knee. She wasn't sure what to make of that, but if felt nice.

Sirius was the one to break the silence.

"I get that James had practically no choice but to take Regulus, otherwise there wouldn't have been any game and breaking into McGonagall's office would have been much more difficult to accomplish. But I swear why he volunteered at the first place is beyond me."

Marta knew better than suggesting that he might have just wanted to spend some quality time with his brother. Even she knew the extent to which the Black brothers couldn't stand each other.

"And to think we'd actually have to _team up_," Sirius went on. "For what I'm guessing is the second time in our lives."

"When was the first time?" Marta inquired.

"Oh, we were kids. I still hadn't even received my Hogwarts letter. Mother was going to have over some third cousin of hers who Reg and I… well, to say disliked would be a complete and utter understatement. We were supposed to show up when she arrived, dressed up for dinner. Instead without anyone noticing we took some Floo powder and went to the Malfoy manor to play with our cousins Bella and Cissy. Of course, when Kreacher - my mother's house elf - found us later and took us home we got hell for it, but it was damn well worth it."

"You are smiling," observed Marta.

"Well, it is a memory I'm fond of," sighed Sirius. "Let's go get some lunch."

* * *

When the examiner from the Ministry evaluating the pratical part of the Defense Against the Dark Arts OWL decided to call the Figg twins at the same time, he had no idea what he was starting. However much Marta kept repeating to herself that it wasn't a competition, but just an exam they happened to be having at the same time, she couldn't help but get all competitive. She couldn't help but want to perform better whatever it may take.

The sisters took turns on every spell, which increased Marta's overwhelming feeling that this was indeed a competition. She performed every jinx and counter-jinx with a fierce determination. She was playing to win. However, Moira was doing pretty impressively too. It was hard to say who was more proficient.

"Fantastic! Absolutely immaculate!" cried the old wizard eventually. "Both of you! The grace, the movements… Beyond amazing, I tell you, beyond amazing."

The sisters exchanged humble smiles. This once, thought Marta, it was the perfect tie.

"I've never felt so exhilarated on an exam before," confessed Moira. "I really enjoyed myself. I think it might just remain a very happy memory I'd store in my mind for the next time when I need to produce a Patronus."

"Merlin, young lady, you are able to produce a Patronus at your age?" the examiner exclaimed, looking very much taken aback.

"Sort of decently, if I concentrate," shrugged Moira.

"Please, may I ask you to demonstrate? I'd say for bonus points, but there's no higher mark than Outstanding…"

Moira gave a curt nod and closed her eyes for a brief moment.

"_Expecto patronum!_"

A little bird shot from her wand and flew swiftly past the wizard's hat.

"Wonderful! Was that a colibri? Remarkable! You should be really proud of yourself, Miss, for this is a very difficult spell with which even grownup wizards often struggle."

"Thank you," smiled Moira. At that moment she didn't see neither her sister's grimace, nor the dead glare Marta was shooting her.

"And your charming sister, can she produce a Patronus too?"

"Not yet, sir," Marta gritted through her teeth.

"Nevermind, nevermind! You girls were just impeccable, it was a pleasure!"

The second they exited the Great Hall, Marta ran for the staircase.

"Marta!" yelled Mo and ran after her.

"Go away!" her sister shot back.

"You know there is no way you're getting less than Outstanding, right?"

"That's not the point," said Marta, turning to face her.

"Then what's the point? Care to explain?"

"Every time I do something right," burst out Marta, "every time, every single time, there's you, doing it better or just being better by default. And you just couldn't resist shoving it in my face yet again, could you now?"

"What? I – what? Sis, I hope you realize what you're saying is complete and utter rubbish."

"Well of course," Marta rolled her eyes. "Of course it's always me saying rubbish things and it's always you saying all the smart and the right things. It's how it has always been."

Moira didn't try to follow her sister this time when she turned round and rushed up the staircase. She went out of the castle and decided to take a stroll in order to clear her head. However, she couldn't stop the tears rolling down her cheek.

"Hey," someone familiar tapped her on the shoulder.

She turned around and there was James Potter. Moira threw her arms around him and burst into muffled sobs.

"Shhh," said James whilst hugging her back and stroking her hair. "It's okay."


End file.
